Which Countries Are Investing Most in AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been dubbed the most transformative technology of the 21st century, comparable to breakthroughs like electricity and the internet. According to its evangelists, it could fundamentally change how we approach complex problems, changing the world in the process.

Naturally, companies and governments are scrambling to lead this revolution. In terms of AI investment spending, the U.S. is by far the frontrunner, followed by China and the U.K. Below, we look at how much the top-spending countries are investing.

The United States

The U.S. is by far the biggest investor in AI, both in the private and government sectors. Private investment totaled $471 billion from 2013 through 2024, including $109 billion in 2024 alone. Heavy government investment and countless money-making opportunities led to a boom in AI-related startups, while established companies like Meta (META), Google (GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN) are investing billions to position themselves at the forefront.

Between 2019 and 2023, the U.S. government invested an estimated $328 billion in AI, which is much more than any other country. According to AIPRM, these funds were mainly allocated to decision science, followed by computer vision, autonomy, machine learning, and finally natural language processing. The biggest spender was the Department of Defense.

Between 2013 and 2023, the government also spent $5.2 billion on AI contracts, also more than any other country.

China

With the world’s second-largest economy, China ranks a distant second in private sector AI investment. Between 2013 and 2024, the Chinese private sector invested $119 billion in AI, including $9 billion in 2024. Big companies like Alibaba (BABA), Tencent, and Baidu (BIDU) have been leading the charge, with the latter rolling out robotaxis across the country’s major cities.

Between 2019 and 2023, the Chinese government spent $133 billion on the technology. And in 2025, it launched a national AI industry fund focused on early-stage projects and investments across the AI supply chain.

China is closing the performance gap on the U.S. and is leading the way in AI publications and patents, according to The 2025 AI Index Report from Stanford University. Public perception of AI is also more positive in China than in other countries.

The United Kingdom

The U.K. government said AI is “at the heart of… [its] strategy to drive economic growth and enhance public service delivery.” It believes the technology can offer improvements at a lower cost, and plans to use it for everything from tailoring educational support for children with special needs to running complex scientific simulations.

These high hopes prompted the U.K. government to open its checkbook. Between 2013 and 2023, it spent about $26 billion on AI, which represents about 8.3% of its GDP and makes it the third-biggest investor in the technology, ahead of much bigger countries like India and Canada.

This money is helping to strengthen academic research at universities and paving the way for various exciting startups such as DeepMind, Wayve, Synthesia, and ElevenLabs. It’s also attracting foreign investment from the likes of Alphabet, Microsoft (MSFT), and Nvidia (NVDA).

The Bottom Line

The arrival of disruptive new technologies can make or break companies and whole economies. AI is said to be as revolutionary as electricity, automobiles, and the internet, so it shouldn’t be surprising that industry and governments are spending fortunes on it.

Right now, these investments aren’t generating much of a return. However, that’s expected to soon change. There are high hopes that AI’s unmatched ability to boost efficiency and lower costs will be a big driver of economic growth in the years to come.